March 2, 2026, 8:00 p.m. ET
The Brooklyn Nets have 52 jersey numbers worn by over 600 different players over the course of their history since the franchise was founded in 1967 as a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA), when the team was known as the “New Jersey Americans”.
Since then, that league has been absorbed by the NBA with the team that would later become the New York Nets and New Jersey Nets before settling on the name by which they are known today, bringing their rich player and jersey history with them to the league of today.
To commemorate the players who played for the Nets over the decades wearing those 52 different jersey numbers, Nets Wire is covering the entire history of the franchise’s jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team.
And for today’s article, we will continue with the 10th of 21 people to wear the No. 44 jersey, big man alum Jack Haley. After ending his college career at UCLA, Haley was picked up with the 87th overall selection (there were many more rounds in that era of the draft) of the 1987 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls.
The Long Beach, California native played parts of the first two seasons of his pro career with the Bulls, coming to an end when he was claimed on waivers by the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets in 1989. His first stint with the team lasted until he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1991, with stops with the San Antonio Spurs and Bulls again before he signed with the Nets for the final two seasons of his career in 1997.
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During his time suiting up for the Nets, Haley wore only jersey No. 44 and 54 and put up 4.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.